Wish Upon a Star
by Ponytail Goddess
Summary: Before dying a very gruesome death, Severus Snape wishes on a star for a life that he thought he would only dream of and wakes up in a different world. However, is it a miracle or is it something else entirely?
1. Chapter 1: A Confusing Arrival

Hi! The following story will be my own personal take on what could have happened to Severus after his death in book seven. I have been thinking about this idea for months and am proud to finally give you my first chapter. Please enjoy my story.

A special thanks goes out to Obsidian Embrace for doing some beta work on a large portion of this first chapter.

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. The wonderful J.K. Rowling does—I just write about her books for my own personal pleasure._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Wish Upon a Star**

_By Ponytail Goddess_

Chapter 1: A Confusing Arrival 

The heavens were above them, stretching from each edge of the sky as far as the eye could see and beyond. Navy blue swirled with deep violet encompassed every being on the darkened side of the planet Earth. However, the soft glow of diamonds lit the sky and took the edge off the dark blanket that threatened to smother the inhabitants of the planet up in its heaviness.

Beneath the endless mystery of the dark cover laid two tiny figures, both staring upward into the abyss from the top of a two story, rickety old brick house at the end of an abandoned street. One was a woman in her early 30's with straggly black hair that was in a low ponytail and sad eyes that stared into the beyond without any wonder dancing in them. The second was a bony boy of no more than nine years, with a large nose and the same wispy hair as the woman. Despite all of the haunting things that the boy had already witnessed in his short life, his black eyes gleamed with admiration and awe of what he was viewing.

For the longest time, the two figures sat in silence, both basking in their respective moods as the sandpapery shingles dug into their backs and arms with a vengeance that went unnoticed by both. Finally, the boy could no longer stand such silence and broke it with a soft spoken question.

"Mother," he asked, turning his head towards the woman slowly, "why do Muggles wish on stars?"

For a long time the woman was silent, never taking her gaze off the all-encompassing sky above her. Despite this, the boy kept looking at her, waiting patiently for an answer. Finally, in a soft voice that reflected her great suffering, she replied, "I suppose it's because they hope for something greater than what they have."

The boy frowned a little at this answer, as it was not what he had wanted to hear. "Yes, but are they really magical? Can they really grant wishes to Muggles?" he asked, clearly intrigued by the mystery, even if his mother was not.

The woman wrapped her arms around herself as if she was uncomfortable thinking about such things. After another prolonged silence, she spoke. "Child, Muggles do not have magic. To Muggles, wishing on stars is just a part of their mythology and fictional stories they tell children before they go to sleep at night. However, unlike flying on brooms and making potions, there isn't an equivalent to wishing upon a star in wizardom today."

"But I thought that all Muggle mythology was based upon muddled up stories of wizardom! Hasn't anyone researched stars?" The words immediately flew out of the boy's mouth, which caused the mother to roll her eyes at her son's thirst for knowledge. The boy really was much too smart for his own good—children were supposed to be more concerned with play than ancient history. However, her son was more mature than most children his age, due to their family's interesting circumstances. The boy had no playmates and therefore focused all of his attention on learning about the magical world.

"There are a few things…" the mother replied weakly. "In theory, it is very powerful magic—perhaps some of the most powerful in existence. However, certain criteria must be met in order for it to work and most of those have been lost to the ages. The few bits of information that are known are more speculation than anything else. It is just something that the experts ponder over tea—I daresay they will never find all the ans-"

"EILEEN!"

Both the woman and the child froze, not moving or even breathing from their positions on the roof. The sound of awkward feet stumbling up the stairs and hard object banging against the wall could be heard from below.

"Bitch…where the fuck are you?" Came the slurred voice of the woman's husband, the sound coming closer as uneven steps approached from behind them. "Better come out and get me some more whiskey before I…before I find you and beat you with my belt!"

Any emotion that had shown on the woman's face before that moment disappeared as she wrapped her arms around her scrawny torso in a lousy attempt to quell her fear. Her son silently reached out and touched her arm for a second, but she quickly nudged it away, her eyes looking haunted as they both heard uneven footsteps approaching the window they had crawled out of to get on the rickety roof of the house.

Her heart raced in her chest—would tonight be the night he climbed out here to find them? What if she or her son fell off the roof while trying to get away from the drunken monster?

The footsteps stopped at the window and the woman could smell the liquor on her husband; he was close. Both bodies on the roof were frozen in fear as they waited to be caught and punished for their actions.

However, the yelling never came. The unsteady feet backed away from the window as quickly as they had arrived, announcing their departure with a great crash of what the woman assumed was a lamp overturning.

After about 15 minutes of stumbling and stomping about the second floor of the rickety old house, both mother and child heard the drunken man stumble back down the stairs again, leaving them in peace and quiet. Despite this, the mother still held hugged herself tightly with her shaking arms, giving off the appearance of being much further away from the boy than a foot.

"Mother…" The boy whispered softly, looking at her with concern. She didn't answer him. However, because the boy had been in this situation before, he knew she might still be listening to him and rattled off yet another question. "Mother, you said that most of the criteria are unknown today, but implied that some still are. What are they?"

Still, the woman did not answer or move and the boy gave up. The presence of her violent husband had struck fear into her heart and zapped all of her sanity away for the night. When afraid, the woman locked away her intelligence and simply ceased to be.

This did not stop the boy from looking up at the stars and making a wish though. On that very night, Severus Snape looked up at the stars and wished that his mother would be granted the courage to pack up her belongings and take him away from his father so they would both be safe and happy.

Sadly, he did not meet the criteria that night and the stars did not grant him his wish. Young Severus was not a quitter though. He remembered the words his mother had spoken about the stars and believed that there must have been some truth to the story. Everytime he hid from his drunken father on the rooftop at Spinner's End, he made a wish with the hopes that perhaps this time, he would meet the criteria and be one of the luckiest wizards in the world. Though none of them ever came true, he still found himself still making silent wishes to the stars well into his adulthood.

Little did Severus know that he would indeed meet the criteria as he stared out the broken window of the shrieking shack, dying…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_Midnight._

Midnight.

"Midnight!" Severus gasped as his eyes shot open and he quickly sat up in bed, breathing heavily from his nightmare. He stared down at his blanket-covered legs for a moment while he caught his breath.

However, he found himself looking at a very unfamiliar duvet. This made him immediately glance around the room and realize that everything about it was unfamiliar. Gone was the dank dungeon smell he was accustomed to, a light cinnamon scent replacing the familiar must and mold. Instead of the stony castle walls were normal walls with a leafy border that Severus could just barely make out from the little ray of light that peeked out of the crevice between the curtains.

Severus stared at the green ivy border with deep confusion. He had just died, right? It felt like only moments ago when Nagini had ripped the soft flesh away from his neck. He still remembered the choking feeling, the blood catching and pooling in his mouth, slowly drowning him and sweeping him away from his familiar world.

He also remembered the eyes. Harry Potter's eyes, to be precise, though they were exact replicas of his Lily's eyes…oh Lily. How deeply he had yearned for her in those last moments while regrets numbed his body as he drew his last few breaths.

Severus took a few more calming gulps of air as he tried to decide exactly where he was. He had always believed that there was some sort of afterlife awaiting him, but he hadn't really pictured anything like this: the place looked like a typical room from his old life. _"Shouldn't there be something different here?"_ he thought to himself, _"Something special? Something that I couldn't get on Earth?"_

A soft groan coming from Severus' immediate right startled him. His eyes immediately shot down to the lump in the duvet beside himself. Red locks peeked out of the deep green duvet as the figure underneath it turned away from him to face the wall.

Severus' mind went blank.

Could it be…

Severus' heart sped up as he looked down at the sleeping body beside him, registering the sound of her even breaths for the very first time. He stood as still as a wall for a second, then carefully reached over and brushed his fingers against one of the strands that was bunched out, away from her head.

It was real. She was really there. Severus could not believe his luck—Lily was here with him in the afterlife! He had been certain she would be with James! Perhaps she had loved him all along, just as he had imagined all of the lonely years after her death.

He had also had this dream in the past, many times in fact. In his recurring dream, he would wake up snuggled next to Lily and proceed to pull up her green satin lingerie and make passionate love to her.

Well, why not do it now? Why not indulge now that he finally had within reach, the only thing he had ever wanted in life?

Severus did not wait a moment longer—he gently scooted towards the red-headed figure, grabbed the blanket that was covering her and pulled it down a bit so he could get a good look at her face. He almost let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it really was her under the blanket. Severus had been let down so many times in life that he automatically expected the worst in most situations, this one included.

Though it was Lily, lying there with her eyes closed, she did not look anything like he had pictured in his dreams. Gone was the green lingerie that he had always pictured so vividly in his mind; it was instead replaced with a plaid, long-sleeved flannel night gown that showed off none of the curves that he desired to see. Her long red locks that she always sported had vanished and were replaced with a chin-length bob that Severus was not accustomed to seeing.

Confused by this drastic change, Severus hesitated for a minute. Something was really odd about this whole situation, as he had never seen her with hair like that during her life. Come to think of it, she looked a bit older as well in the face, though he could not pinpoint exactly how.

"Lily?" Severus questioned softly, his voice filled with confusion as he gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand.

Immediately, Lily's eyes crinkled up in annoyance, remaining closed as she pulled the cover back up to her eyes. "Mmm…not now Severus," he heard her mumble into the sheets as she settled back into the duvet.

Well…this was certainly not part of Severus' normal dream, in which Lily was rather compliant. In fact, this had the semblance of real life; perhaps the afterlife was no different than real life, Severus concluded as he gazed upon the obviously aged Lily.

With that in mind, he decided that it wouldn't hurt to try again. "Lily," he said a bit louder, giving her shoulder a light shake this time.

Bad idea. Livid green eyes popped open and glared at him from beneath the duvet. "Get your own breakfast Severus," she snapped. "It's my day off and I'm going to sleep in!"

Severus' eyes widened as he watched her scoot as far from him as she could without falling off the bed and then settled herself down on her stomach, facing away from him. Why was Lily addressing him in such a harsh manner when he had finally just arrived in her presence?

Unease filled Severus' mind up to the brim as he tried his hardest to analyze the situation. Something was really wrong with all of this, but Severus couldn't quite place his finger on it. He knew he should be dead…at least, he remembered dying, though the memories were rather vague. If he had survived though, Lily would not have been with him in the first place. Why was she aged? Why was she ignoring him when he had just arrived to be with her?

Deeply confused, but wanting to make things right with Lily, Severus laid back down and gently pulled the covers over himself. Trying his best not to disturb her, Severus wrapped his arm around her flannel-covered body and nuzzled his cheek against her ear before kissing it. "I'm sorry for making you angry," he murmured into her ear, before snuggling up next to her.

Yet again, Severus seemed to have done the wrong thing, as he felt the body next to him in bed yank itself away from him and onto the cold wooden floor with a bang that rumbled throughout the house. Unceremoniously, a very disheveled Lily jerked herself up off the floor and stared at him from a few feet away, her wild red locks half covering her shocked face.

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed, pushing her hair away from her face to reveal eyes that were starting to leak like an old basement. "You think you can give me the cold shoulder for years and then suddenly, out of the blue when you fancy getting off, you can make up with me just like that?" she asked in an upset, high-pitched voice. "If so, you're more of an idiot than I thought Severus."

Severus was horrified by this. "Lily, I-"

"Why now? Why now of all times would you care about upsetting me? Severus, you've been upsetting me for years! One measly 'sorry' cannot fix all of that, for Merlin's sake!" she said rather loudly, nearly yelling.

Silence followed her loud declaration and it cut Severus even more deeply than her screams. She stared at him like he was a piece of hippogriff shit on her duvet as she struggled to catch her breath, having gotten thoroughly worked up in the last few minutes. He looked at her desperately trying to understand her pleas as his heart pounded much faster than it normally did.

If only he understood…

"Lily," he finally said in a grave voice, "I've done a lot of bad things in my life, but I've never meant to hurt you—never. I don't know what to do to make this right." Pausing while he tried to pull his pathetic thoughts together and say the right thing, he finally said softly, in a tear-laden voice, "…but I want this to be alright. I don't want to fight anymore."

Having no idea how to continue that train of thought, Severus shut his mouth and stared at Lily, waiting for a reaction. Her glare did not let up, however, as she stared right back at him.

Expecting the worst, Severus turned his back on Lily and scooted to the other side of the bed where he hung his feet over the side and leaned over so that he cradled his face in his hands. He felt even more helpless now than when she had died. He had hoped so much that this would finally be his time to feel loved by her, but it simply wasn't meant to be. Like all of Severus Snape's many hopes and dreams, this one was shot down as well.

It wasn't just a normal dream or hope for him though; it was an obsession. There was nothing that he had wanted more than to see her in the afterlife and now even that was screwed up. Hell, he wasn't even sure if this was the afterlife! He still seemed to be breathing and touching things, after all!

Severus hoped upon everything sacred that it was all just a dream and that he would wake up soon from a coma after having all of Nagini's poison pumped from his body. "Please, let it be a dream," he muttered to himself, "…please."

Merlin help him if it was not.

Therefore, Severus waited to be woken up, sitting there with his face in his hands, trying his best not to think about all of the confusion that was surrounding him. _"I am not crazy," _he thought to himself repeatedly, _"It's just a dream, just a dream…"_

But it wasn't going away either. What if he ended up trapped in his mind for the rest of his life? Or worse yet, trapped in this room with his soul mate who would forever be unwilling to speak to him.

Afraid of being trapped, Severus got up to see if he even could leave the room, looking back only for a second to see what Lily was doing. She was still in bed, a big pillow over her head, curled up as far away from him as she could get.

The fact that she didn't accept his apology was eating away at him, but he supposed that if this was just a dream, it wouldn't matter in end. At least, that's what he tried to convince himself of as his hand touched the doorknob leading to the unknown.

The knob felt real and cold under his fingers and so without further hesitation, Severus found himself turning it slowly, uncertain of what awaited him on the other side. A soft click could be heard as the door sprung to life. Severus gave it a soft push open.

It led to a hallway—a white, well-lit hallway with a dark brown wooden floor. There was nothing odd about it really, though Severus was certain that he'd never been in this house before. Silently, his bare feet padded across the smooth wood down to where the hallway opened up to two different rooms. On one side was a kitchen, complete with dark wooden cabinets, a wood stove, a pantry, and a table with five chairs around it. The other room was a parlor of sorts, packed with some comfy looking chairs and ottomans.

Immediately, Severus decided to go into the kitchen because it was much less cluttered than the other space. With a shaking hand, Severus pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat. Purposefully, he cleared his thoughts for a moment and was relieved when his heart started beating a bit slower, as it had been racing in panic ever since he woke up.

After sitting in silence for a few seconds, Severus jumped as a newspaper materialized on the table. Immediately, he grabbed it roughly and jerked it open. It was the Daily Prophet, but it was dated for December 14th of the previous year. The main article was not about the war that had taken place at Hogwarts just yesterday either—instead, it was yammering on about an illicit potions bust that had taken place in Knockturn Alley last night.

Quickly flipping through the pages of the paper, Severus searched desperately for something familiar to what he had witnessed yesterday before dying. There was nothing, not even one mention of lousy Harry Potter, who was infamously featured in nearly every issue of the Daily Prophet.

What in the name of Merlin's beard was going on around here?

Sighing with a mixture of irritation and fear, Severus put down the paper and started to open up cabinets with the hopes of finding some tea or a calming draught to sooth his frazzled nerves. The first thing Severus found was an old, stained teapot, which he set down on the counter as he searched for some tea and cups. Eventually, he found the correct cabinet and looked through the large assortment of teas that were available to him.

While there were quite a few varieties of tea, Severus found it rather odd that a majority of them seemed to be labeled memory enhancers in his own messy scrawl. Why would anyone need that many different memory enhancing teas?

In fact, seeing all of those teas made Severus wonder if he had perhaps forgotten something very important. Perhaps they were all for him because he could not remember the details of his life. Sadly, that hypothesis seemed to be the most accurate one he had come up with all morning. Feeling dejected and confused, Severus took out a memory aiding tea that was enhanced with ginko biloba and set about putting the water on for his tea.

As his water heated over the stove, Severus sat at the table with his head cradled in his hands, trying to figure out what was going on. Had he really forgotten his life? Had someone perhaps oblivated him? Had he never died at all?

None of it made sense, not one bit. He had no memory of the house he was in, no memory of how Lily had gotten in his bed, no memory of anything of import…

Getting up to steep his tea, Severus found himself clearing his mind once again because his thoughts were far too confusing. However, his calm did not last long as Lily popped into the kitchen with a grouchy look on her face. Severus grabbed his teacup and sat down with the hopes of staying out of her way. Picking up the paper, Severus hid himself from her and silently listened as Lily opened up cabinets and prepared things behind him.

It seemed surreal.

Then, she suddenly erupted. "Oh for Merlin's sake, Severus! The ginko tea? You tested one of those potions on yourself last night without telling me, didn't you?"

Curious, Severus turned around in his chair and asked her, "What kind of potion?"

Had he really been here last night? Awake?

Sighing, Lily sat down with her own cup of tea and finally looked at with an expression of resignation. "What's the last thing you remember Severus?" she asked darkly.

"Getting bitten by a large snake," Severus replied, uncertain about where this conversation was going.

"When did you get bitten by a large snake?" Lily asked with a hint of worry manifesting in her eyes.

"Yesterday," he said and then waited for her reaction.

"Yesterday?" She repeated, confused. "Bloody hell Severus, what have you done to yourself this time around? I'll go see if you left me any instructions on how to bring you to rights."

Lily got up walked back down the hallway, leaving Severus alone to listen to the hot sizzle of bangers frying on the stove. A few minutes later she came barging back in, looking rather angry.

"Well, we had better just hope it comes back, now hadn't we? Since you weren't responsible enough to leave out any directions or even a recipe! You know, I'm sure you don't remember now, but I have told you time and time again not to do this without leaving some sort of note!" Lily ranted, flushed with anger. "One of these times you're going to mess up the potion or dosage and without a note, I'll be stuck with you like this!"

Severus didn't know how to respond to this, so he opted to sit in silence as Lily walked behind him to check the bangers. A few minutes later, a plate with bangers and a scone was set in front of him.

"Thank you," he said softly, putting down the paper he had previously been hiding behind and looked at the food set before him. He watched as Lily took a seat in front of him, carefully avoiding his eyes.

"Where are the forks?" he suddenly asked, realizing that he would need some sort of utensil to eat.

"Second drawer to the left of the stove." Lily replied, tucking into her food immediately after.

Severus got up, grabbed a fork and spoon, then sat back down and started to pick at his food. Really, he felt incredibly nervous about not knowing what was going on and it was ruining his appetite. Despite this, he felt a certain obligation to eat this food since Lily had made it for him and so he forced a bit down before he set about putting some apricot jam on his scone.

"Pass the jam please," Lily said softly and Severus complied, pushing the small jar as far across the table as he could physically reach.

Lily gasped and stood up so suddenly that she knocked her chair over as she scrambled away from the table in dismay. Severus froze, shocked by her outburst.

"Accio wand!" Lily called out, backing away from Severus as far as she could, but never taking her eyes off of him.

"Lily? I don't understand-"

"Severus!" She shrieked hysterically, "How could you? How could you!"

"How could I what?" Severus asked, standing up slowly and putting his hands up as a signal of submission. "I don't understand-"

"Don't understand my arse! You took his bloody mark! You have a fucking dark mark on your arm!" She screamed, holding her wand up menacingly. "Get out! Get out of my fucking house!"

Quickly, Severus assessed the situation and spoke as calmly and slowly as he could. "Lily…it's not what you think. Please, just put your wand and let me explain…"

"There is nothing to explain! Get out! Now!"

"Lily-"

"_Incarcerous!"_

"_Expelliarmus!"_

It was all over within a single second. Severus had said his spell faster because Lily's wand ended up in his hand just as ropes started to spew out of it. He immediately directed the spell to the side of them to avoid anyone getting hurt. The teapot then exploded as the ropes wrapped around it much too tightly.

Silence ensued. The fear in Lily's eyes stabbed Severus in the chest as he watched her. It made him wish he had allowed her to cast the incarcerous spell on him.

A moment later, she ran out of the room.

"Lily!" Severus called out, following her into the parlor just in time to see her floo away.

"Fuck," Severus muttered as he stared at the floor, downtrodden.

He had scared Lily away.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well, what do you think? I'll try and update soon as I'm very excited about this fic! Have a great day!

-P.G.


	2. Chapter 2: Shocking Discoveries

Hi! Welcome back to Wish Upon a Star! Thanks to all of those people who read the first chapter of the fic—I was glad to hear that many of you enjoyed it. I just wanted to announce one minor change that I made to the first chapter of Wish. You might recall that Severus picks up a newspaper in the old version of Chapter 1, and it says that it is dated as if it was one day after the Battle of Hogwarts. I later realized that I needed to change the date in order to support the up-and-coming plot of the next few chapters. I revised the date to make Severus arrive in December of the year before the battle. Sorry about my error! Now, without further ado, please enjoy my new chapter!

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. The wonderful J.K. Rowling does—I just write about her books for my own personal pleasure._

A big thanks goes out to ObsidianEmbrace, who has made my story readable once again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Wish Upon a Star**

_By Ponytail Goddess_

Chapter 2: Shocking Discoveries

Silently, Severus walked up to the large portrait window in the parlor and looked outside. He appeared to be in the country; there seemed to be quite an expanse of bare land ahead of him, before a few small hills and bits of forest broke up the visual monotony. The ground was covered with an undisturbed fluffy blanket of snow, which was lightly glistening in the dull winter sunlight.

Suddenly realizing that he was sockless and freezing in his pajamas, Severus hugged his arms around his torso to keep himself warm. He suddenly felt very alone, as if he was the only person in the area for miles.

As if he was the only person in this universe that did not belong.

Deciding he really needed to sort this out, Severus crept back into the kitchen and sat down at the abandoned table. He took a deep sip of lukewarm tea and thought about what he could remember from the battle yesterday night.

The details were quite blurry. He remembered talking to the Dark Lord in the Shrieking Shack, begging for something, though he wasn't sure what. Then, there had been the damn snake—Severus remembered that part all too well. Something had happened after the bite however, something important that Severus couldn't quite put his finger on. It bothered him that he didn't remember since he knew he had laid on the hard, muddy floor suffering for a long time before death had put him out of his misery.

What was it?

Frustrated, Severus took another swig of tea and then bent down and rested his head in his hands as he searched for the answer. He remembered Voldemort looking down at him with emotionless eyes as he staggered to the ground; he remembered the smell of mold and the way his arm had slid across the floor with ease, bathed in his own blood.

Severus closed his eyes and was shocked to find intense green ones staring back at him.

_"Look…at…me."_

Severus' eyes shot open, and a moment later he realized that he had jumped up out of the chair. His teacup was overturned and dripping deep orange liquid onto the kitchen floor.

He had been thinking about her. That was it! He had been thinking about her during his last moments of life! Could that be why he had woken up in this new world where he obviously didn't belong?

Halting his thought process, Severus took up Lily's wand and cast a quick _evanesco_ on his mess before sitting back down. This reminded him that he didn't know where his own wand was. While he had managed a few wandless spells earlier this morning, ultimately Severus preferred to have his wand with him at all times.

Curious as to whether it was in this world or not, Severus walked back to the room he had woken up in and looked around. His wand wasn't on the floor or on either nightstand, which really left only one other option.

Severus stuck his hand underneath the fluffy pillow he had slept upon and immediately felt the familiar tingle of magic beneath his fingers. He grabbed the source of the tingling and immediately sighed in relief when he pulled out eleven inches of ebony wood enclosed around a dragon's heartstring. The familiar flare of power shot through his fingers and up his arm; Severus reveled in the feeling for a moment before pocketing the wand in his pajamas.

Seeing the bathroom attached to the bedroom made Severus have second thoughts about returning to the kitchen. Instead of returning, he decided to take a shower before touring the rest of the house.

After closing the door, Severus stripped down and stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. He stared at himself for a moment, then gingerly touched his neck as he relived Nagini's fatal bite. There was not a single trace of the bite left on his skin, not even the slightest of blemishes remained.

It had happened…hadn't it?

Severus was confused; he stepped into the shower and closed the door before pointing his wand towards the ceiling and twirling it in a tight spiral. "_Fervens Pluvia!_" he incanted loudly, then watched as a dark cloud swirled into existence above his head.

Rain started to pour down on Severus as he thought about what Lily had said before she stormed out. She seemed to think he belonged in this world and had not panicked strictly over his appearance in her house. She had also mentioned that he had his own potions lab here—she had even made a trip to it while in his presence. Clearly, _he lived here_. Had he simply forgotten that?

And what was this about him taking experimental potions? Experimenting with potions was a very dangerous job! Even after one ran the proper diagnostic tests, no one could ever be completely certain of what would happen when a person took an experimental potion for the first time. Why was he risking himself? What sort of potion was he trying to create? Why would he need to create one in the first place?

Severus sighed as he grabbed an unmarked, clear bottle from the shower rack, screwed off the lid, and took a deep whiff of the mauve-colored contents inside. "Let's see," he murmured to himself, "an unknown cleaning agent, doctored up with essence of clover, sheep's fat, bobotuber puss, orange extract, and…cinnamon?" It seemed like a good shampoo, in theory; Severus squeezed out a generous amount and slathered it in his hair.

What really bothered him about this whole situation was that Lily had thought it was normal for him to be here. If he had really died and just appeared here, wouldn't Lily have been alarmed? She had acted as if he had been acting normally the night before, and had even seemed to hold grudges against him—grudges that must have been previously formed.

However, the more Severus thought about how he could have forgotten about his life here, the more irrational he found the idea. After all, Lily had asked him about what he had forgotten and he didn't feel as though he had forgotten all that much, with the exception of his death, of course. Why would he even have memories about his own death if he had taken a potion that made him forget things? He would have never died in the first place, which would make those memories new and unreal, as he was clearly very much alive here.

Therefore, he must have died. Severus felt quite certain of this, which was a relief in some ways. It was the first thing he had felt assured of all morning. In turn, it made him uncomfortable because that meant he certainly didn't belong here after all, which raised more questions as to why he was here in the first place.

Still befuddled, Severus stepped out of the bath and searched through several drawers and bathroom cabinets while water dripped off his cold body. Eventually, he found a fluffy white towel and cleaned up his mess after drying himself off. With the towel now adorning his waist, he walked back into the bedroom with hopes of finding some fresh clothes. Figuring the large wooden wardrobe was the best place to start, Severus headed over to it and opened the doors.

Severus' mouth opened in shock. A large assortment of colorful items certainly wasn't what he was expecting. Perhaps they were all Lily's…

That hypothesis was shot down the moment he noticed there were both women's and men's shoes in the bottom of the wardrobe; evidently, it was a shared piece of furniture…

…but where was all his black?

Frowning, Severus started to rummage through the crowded closet area for something he could tolerate wearing for a while, starting with the tiny amount of black items that did exist. The last thing he pulled out was a black robe, which made him sigh in relief. However, Severus could not find any black pants or shirts and had to settle for a pair of dark grey slacks and a dark green turtleneck sweater.

"Bloody hell…" he said to himself as he put the clothes on with a sneer of distaste on his face. "What did Lily do to me?"

As Severus got dressed, he started to notice that something else was a bit odd about his attire: it was about two sizes too big!

"What in Merlin's name…" Severus started to say, trailing off as he thought about this new problem. He found himself perplexed by this new discovery. It was almost as if the clothes belonged to a different person.

Had he taken the place of someone else?

No, he didn't want to think about that—he was already overwhelmed without the help of additional irrational theories.

Severus looked at himself in the mirror and frowned. The overly-large attire made him look slovenly, which was something he disapproved of. He hadn't looked this shoddy since he had been forced to the wear second-hand rags that his disturbed mother had somehow come up with.

"Honey, that is not a good look on you," the mirror said emphatically, stating the obvious.

A shrinking spell was definitely in order.

After a little spellwork, he was finally looking decent in his clothes and easily gained the mirror's hearty approval. Severus went back to the bathroom to comb his wet hair and brush his teeth. Finally ready for the day, and feeling a bit more confident because of it, Severus slipped his wand into his pocket and went down the hall to the first door with the hopes of satisfying his growing curiosity.

Severus tried to turn the knob, only to find it locked. Taking out his wand, Severus called out, "_Alohomora_!"

A small clicking sound issued from the doorknob, which Severus immediately turned. He opened the door just a crack to be safe, and peered in.

His eyes instantly widened. "Merlin…" he breathed as he pushed the door open in shock.

It was a teenager's heaven: every inch of the walls and ceiling were plastered with moving posters of wizard bands, each actively jamming away to a drunken audience. There were also magazine cutouts of models, who strutted up and down the catwalk in the latest outfits, each trying their best to look appealing and sexy. The floor was littered with clothing and high-healed shoes, in every color imaginable, carelessly tossed into an empty corner. The large, unmade bed also had a few abandoned shirts hanging off of it. A couple of headless manikins stood in the corner near the closet, both adorned in flashy, outrageously short green and black mini-dresses.

Severus found himself wandering into the foreign territory as he tried to wrap his mind around it. As he got further in, he found several rolls of fabric laying on the ground and a small bookcase that was filled with _Witch Fashion Today_ and _Magical Fashionista_ magazines, as well as a scattering of makeup cases.

This was definitely the room of a teenager, though what it was doing here was beyond his knowledge. After all, if there was a teen here, it meant-

Oh.

Dear.

Merlin.

Severus shot out of the room like a bat out of hell and slammed the door behind him.

A teenager lived here!

Lily had created a child with him!

A child.

Severus' first inclination was to panic and so he did. He leaned against the hallway wall and fell into a sitting position, instantaneously drawing his legs up to his chest and embracing them tightly.

How could this be? This had never been part of his fantasy of living with Lily! After all, he had never gotten to the whole dating part, let alone marriage! He had never thought this far ahead in his imaginary plans for her, and now he felt as though he had been smacked in the face with unimaginable force.

He needed a calming draught and he needed it now!

Reaching his hand out, Severus called out, "_Accio calming draught_!" with the hope of receiving a vial from somewhere in the house. He was not disappointed; the door at the end of the hallway immediately flew open, and a full vial of lavender liquid zipped into his outstretched hand. With a pop of the cork, it slid down his throat like liquid gold and made him feel so much better. He sighed with relief.

Standing up, Severus decided it might be a good idea to disregard the other doors for now and check out the one at the end of the hallway which had so kindly provided him with the draught. He really didn't need any more surprises at this point, and figured his draught had surely come from the lab that Lily had referred to earlier.

Refusing to think of himself as a father for one moment longer, Severus walked to the last door and reopened it to reveal a dark stairway that he immediately fell in love with. "This sets the mood for potion making quite well," he muttered to himself with a smirk as he descended into darkness, casting an easy _lumos_ with his wand to light the way.

It was amazing.

Severus found himself shocked at the beautiful lab that met his eyes when his feet hit the cement floor of the cellar. There were eight large cauldrons set up in a row, each containing different potions which were at various stages of completion, as well as a large variety of smaller simmering caldrons on a long counter that stretched around three sides of the room. A complex ventilation system was sucking the fumes off each cauldron to prevent the members of the house from suffocating upstairs. Row upon row of shelves sat above each counter containing every ingredient necessary to make even the most obscure recipes. There was also a large safe which most likely contained some of the more volatile and dangerous ingredients that were occasionally needed for highly advanced potions. Above the safe was a large bookcase full of shrunken books and journals, presumably in alphabetical order, as he preferred them.

In short, it was his own personal paradise. Feeling almost giddy, Severus found himself examining each potion, identifying them and their current stages. A few of them were unidentifiable, which led him to think that whoever had brewed them had created the recipes.

Had he made these potions or had someone else?

Curious about the unidentifiable potions, Severus walked over to a section of the counter that seemed to be the home of a messy pile of books and notes. Memory charms, memory charms, and more memory charms it seemed, as Severus looked over the titles of the journals and books that were laid out and marked up with notes.

"Someone has a one-track mind…" Severus murmured as he examined the notes in the book, "…and that someone appears to be me."

Indeed, much to Severus' displeasure, the notes all seemed to be in his own angry scrawl, and were organized in a way that was very understandable to him. He had no idea why he had been studying such a thing though.

"I've never had any interest in working with something so dangerous," he reasoned to himself. "Why would I study it and why don't I remember studying it?"

That was the irony of the whole thing though: if he had in fact been studying memory potions and had been testing them on himself, then obviously he had every reason not to remember studying memory potions.

What an obnoxious paradox.

However, the other side of his mind asked if it was possible that he had never studied the potions in the first place. After all, he knew he had forgotten a few things, but he didn't honestly think he had forgotten this much; the counter full of books held several years worth of research, and the only thing that was blurry in his head was his supposed death. He did not feel as though he had forgotten several years of his life.

If this was correct though, that meant he had taken the place of someone else—someone else who had his handwriting and who looked like him. Someone who Lily recognized as her husband.

Himself. What if he had replaced another version of himself?

But that was absurd! How could something as illogical as this be happening? People were not supposed to replace each other randomly in the universe! What if this meant that he could disappear from here at any time and end up elsewhere? The thought of being thrown somewhere else that was just as unfamiliar as this place, if not more, was undeniably alarming.

Severus quickly took a seat to prevent his shaky knees from collapsing. The stress of this new scenario was more than he knew how to handle. Feeling distressed, Severus leaned forward and rested his head in his hands for a few minutes.

"Stop it," Severus finally said to himself resolutely. Panicking would only make the situation worse and he refused to allow himself to do it. Using all of his occlumency skills, Severus pushed these thoughts behind the wall that was already blocking the intrusive fatherhood thoughts. He sighed as placid, safe thoughts flowed through his mind once again. Thank goodness for occlumency; what would he do without it in this situation?

Not knowing what else to do at this point, Severus decided to lose himself in the delicate art of potion making. The chopping and creaming of ingredients soothed him with their familiarity and Severus truly lost track of all time as he set about working on the half-finished Draught of the Living Dead.

He was pulling the pine nuts off of a Siberian Dwarf Pine's cone when he first heard someone calling. The unfamiliar voice had startled him so badly that he had flung one of the nuts across the room; luckily, it had not dropped into any of the other potions.

Grabbing his wand off the counter of his homey lab, Severus silently scaled the stairs and snuck down the hallway with a stealth that even Mad-Eye Moody would have been proud of. The voice continued calling…a male voice, Severus could now make out. The more he thought about it, the voice did seem vaguely familiar too, though he couldn't immediately place it.

"Lily…Lily! Severus! Anybody home?"

The yelling was coming from the parlor, presumably from the hearth. Severus snuck to the side of the fireplace and tried to decide if revealing himself would be a good or bad thing in this situation. Anybody could be calling from that fireplace and Severus had no idea where anyone's allegiances laid in this world. What if it was someone who was dangerous to him and his wife?

Worse yet, what if Lily had sent this person to lure him into a trap meant for a Death Eater?

Despite all of Severus' morbid suspicions, he quickly became annoyed with the obnoxious voice that didn't show signs of stopping any time soon. Severus was armed and could potentially take down one person quite easily, as long as it wasn't a trap of some sort. Deciding it was worth the risk, Severus quickly turned in front of the fireplace, his wand pointed at the fire below.

Oh, bloody hell! All that fuss and it was just the wretched werewolf.

"Lupin," Severus sneered, annoyed from his pointless sneaking.

"Lupin?" the wolf echoed back, sounding genuinely confused, "What happened to being on a first name basis? Oh bloody hell Severus, you've had a memory potion today, haven't you?"

"So what if I did?" Severus scoffed, royally sick of the whole memory potion business already, despite its helpful alibi for his predicament.

"How much did you forget?" Lupin asked, looking a bit concerned.

"That's none of your damn business, wolf." he sneered, making the word _wolf_ sound as derogatory as he could.

Lupin sighed at this, obviously frustrated. "You're wrong Severus—it is my business when I'm about to bring Mabel back through the floo."

"Who is this Mabel and why would you be sending her to me?" Severus asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He certainly didn't need any company; anyone from this odd place would manage to muck with his mind, he just knew it.

Lupin watched him with an obvious sense of unease and was silent for quite a while before replying. Putting his hand up to his forehead with a look of complete disbelief, Lupin replied, "Sweet Merlin Severus, only you would manage to improve your potion at an inconvenient time like this! For fuck's sake, Mabel is your daughter!"

Suddenly, all of the Occlumency lessons in the world couldn't have kept his previously blockaded thoughts from crashing through his brain like a 10-meter tidal wave. He was a father in this strange world, something he hadn't the slightest clue about. While drowning in a flood of thoughts, Severus managed to ask the dumbest question of his life.

"I have a daughter?"

The moment the question escaped from the safety of his mouth, Severus regretted his folly. Lupin chuckled nervously at him at him before replying in a quiet voice, "Not just one; you have three daughters Severus."

Severus somehow managed to grab the edge of the mantle before he fell.

"Look…Severus, is Lily there? I need to drop your daughter off at your house so I can go about some Order business." Lupin said, trying to look for Lily from his spot in the fire.

"She's not here right now, Lupin." Severus said softly, trying to ignore the weird, unidentifiable feeling that was associated with his own personal creation of life.

"Well…do you think you can handle Mabel in your current state, Severus?" Lupin asked cautiously. "I hate to ask this of you right now, but James and I really need to get going soon or our Portkey is going to take off without us."

"I don't know anything about this child, Lupin!" Severus exclaimed with horror. "Does she even know that I've lost my memories?"

"Let me tell her…just a sec," Lupin said, then disappeared from the hearth for a moment before flashing back up amid the flames. "She says she's helped you when you forgot things before and she promises to be on her very best behavior. How about it Sev, do you think you can handle a six year-old?"

"Don't ever call me Sev again, you overgrown mongrel," he growled back at the face in the fire, then took a second to think. Could he handle a six year-old? Severus wasn't quite sure. Though he had plenty of experience with the first years at Hogwarts, eleven was quite different from six. Severus wasn't even sure how big a six year-old was… Were children even house-trained at that age?

"I've never watched a six year-old before, but I suppose I can give it a try," Severus replied, his dignity unwilling to say no despite the fact that every aspect of this made him deeply uncomfortable.

"It's quite easy really, all you need to do is read a few books and play a few games with her—just don't let her touch anything which might hurt her, and you'll do just fine," Lupin said with a smile.

"What kind of idiot do you think I am, wolf? Of course I won't let her get hurt!" he snarled. "Go on then, bring her through! I haven't got all day!"

Unfortunately, Severus was not ready for the little creature that was spat out of the Floo along with the werewolf. Severus could only see her backside because Lupin was still holding her, but he automatically recognized her as his own. The tiny black pigtails and pallid skin were dead giveaways.

"Bye-bye Uncle Reemee! I had lots of fun with you and Uncle Jamesie! Can we play with the fanged frisbee again next time?" a soft, high-pitched voice asked.

Severus quickly employed his Occlumency and acting skills once more to keep himself from panicking in front of the wolf—he had a daughter, for Merlin's sake!

"Of course we will, little Miss Mabel. Be good for your daddy, okay sweetheart?"

Daddy?! Oh sweet Merlin…

"I will Uncle Reemee, I promise!" the little girl said excitedly to the wolf, holding up her pinky finger to him. Lupin promptly set her on the ground and held out his own pinky, which was swiftly latched onto by the smaller pinky. The two shook on it and then Lupin dropped a small pink duffle bag he had been holding, and the little girl jumped back into his arms for a hug.

During the hug, Lupin met Severus' eyes and mouthed, "Are you going to be okay?"

This snapped Severus out of his stupor and he glared back at the wolf with determination in his eyes—of course he could handle this! He did not answer the wolf, but his glower seemed to be answer enough because Lupin smiled at him before standing up.

"Very well Severus, good luck," he said, then disappeared into the Floo a moment later, leaving him face to face with his young offspring.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What do think of the new chapter? I hope you enjoyed it. I realize some readers don't like reading about original characters, but I would ask that you give them a chance in this instance. I have a lot of experience writing original characters in fanfics. They will not take over the story—the story will mainly focus on Severus and Lily. Thanks for reading! Have a good one!

-P.G.


End file.
